Dilbar is 156m LOA, built Lürssen 2016, the second-largest yacht in the world by gross tonnage at 15,917 GT. Reported beneficial owner is Alisher Usmanov, who has been on the EU sanctions list since 28 February 2022 and the UK sanctions list since 3 March 2022. The yacht has been at Blohm+Voss in Hamburg since the sanctions came into effect. She has not moved in over four years as of May 2026. She is not on the charter market, has never been on the charter market, and cannot be on the charter market under the sanctions regime as currently in force.
This piece is the status update, the spec sheet, and the sanctions context for charter clients who encounter her name in press coverage. We are not in the business of evaluating the geopolitics. We are in the business of answering whether she is bookable. She is not.
Specs that matter
156m LOA, 23m beam, 6m draft, 15,917 GT. The 15,917 GT figure is the headline: Dilbar has more internal volume than any yacht in the world, including Azzam at 180m LOA. The GT advantage comes from the beam-to-length ratio and the volume-per-deck of the design, which prioritises interior space over speed or efficiency. Built by Lürssen at the Bremen yard, hull. Delivered May 2016. Designed by Espen Øino (exterior) and Andrew Winch (interior).
Propulsion is diesel-electric. Four MTU 20V 4000 M73L diesels driving generators that feed two electric pod-style drives or shaft drives. Total installed power is roughly 30,000 hp, the largest yacht propulsion package by some margin. Top speed is reported at 22.5 knots. Cruise around 16 knots. Range under cruise.
The interior is reported at. Two helicopter pads (one forward, one aft), a 25m indoor pool reported as the largest on any private yacht, gym, spa, cinema, and the full suite of features that the size class carries. Crew complement is reported around 80 to 100.
How Dilbar ended up in Hamburg
Dilbar was at Blohm+Voss in Hamburg in late 2021 and early 2022 for what was reported as a scheduled refit period. The Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 triggered the EU and UK sanctions packages, and Alisher Usmanov was named in the first wave. The yacht's beneficial ownership was traced to him through a chain of. On 16 March 2022 German federal authorities confirmed the yacht was frozen as a sanctioned asset and could not depart Hamburg.
The legal position has been challenged. The German Federal Criminal Police's initial freezing order was followed by a longer-running confiscation investigation, and the yacht's status as a frozen asset rather than a confiscated asset matters because the freeze preserves ownership while preventing operation, while a confiscation would transfer ownership to the state. Current as of May 2026, the yacht remains in the frozen-asset category.
What sanctions actually prevent
The practical effect is comprehensive. The yacht cannot be moved out of EU waters. She cannot be sold to a third party. She cannot be chartered to a third party. Maintenance can continue under conditions set by the freezing authority, which is why the yacht has not deteriorated visibly during the four-plus year stay at Blohm+Voss. The yard is paid out of and operates under the supervision of the German federal authorities.
The crew complement during the freeze has been reduced to a maintenance level. Reports place the active crew at rather than the full operational complement. The yacht is not at full readiness, and bringing her back to operational status would require a re-fit-out and a recrewing exercise of meaningful duration.
The sanctions are renewed periodically. Each renewal extends the freeze for an additional period. There is no current indication of a removal from the sanctions list.
Why a charter client encounters this query
Three reasons.
First, the press cycle. Each major sanctions renewal, each German court hearing on the confiscation question, and each anniversary of the original freeze brings Dilbar back into general press coverage. The Bloomberg, Reuters, and Deutsche Welle reporting is consistent and is the best public source on current status.
Second, the size-of-yacht comparison. Dilbar at 15,917 GT remains a reference for "the biggest yacht by interior volume," and a charter client searching for the largest available yacht will encounter her in the comparison set. The answer for that question in 2026 is Flying Fox at 136m, asking, full notes in Flying Fox yacht charter.
Third, due-diligence-driven. Charter clients increasingly want to understand the sanctions framework around the yachts they may book. Several charter yachts in the 80m-plus tier have ownership chains that intersect with sanctioned individuals at the periphery, and the chartering process has tightened the due diligence on this. Our how to do charter sanctions due diligence covers the practical step.
Comparable available alternatives
If size is the brief and a charter is the goal, the answer is not Dilbar and never has been. The current charter options at the closest available scale.
Flying Fox, 136m, Lürssen 2019. The largest charter yacht in the world as of May 2026. Twenty-five guests in 11 cabins (one of the few 100m-plus yachts coded for over 12 charter guests). Asking. Full notes in Flying Fox yacht charter.
Octopus, 126m, Lürssen 2003 / refit 2022. Twelve guests in 13 cabins, formerly Paul Allen's yacht, now on charter under. Asking. Full notes in Octopus charter record.
Anna, 110m, Feadship 2018. Twelve guests in 7 cabins. Asking. Full notes in Anna yacht charter.
These three are the set above 100m. Below 100m the inventory broadens significantly. None of them is Dilbar in volume terms, and a client whose specific brief is "the largest interior volume yacht I can charter" should adjust the brief, because the answer at that volume tier does not exist on the open charter market.
Three things we would change about Dilbar (the hypothetical)
She is not on the market and the path back to the market depends on a sanctions resolution we are not in a position to forecast. If she returned to operation under a non-sanctioned owner, the obvious operational ask is the guest coding. The yacht's GT and her interior layout could accommodate the 12-charter-guest cap with significant headroom, and a hypothetical commercial coding would put her in the same band as Flying Fox. The trade is the operational cost: at 30,000 hp installed power and an 80-plus crew complement, the weekly charter rate that would cover a meaningful share of operating cost is in the $3M-plus range, which compresses the available client pool sharply.
What we have passed on
We have passed on the Usmanov biography, the Russian sanctions policy debate, and the German court speculation. All are extensively covered in dedicated political and legal press and have nothing to do with whether the yacht is bookable. We have also passed on the running tally of "where the seized yachts are now," which is a separate topic and a moving target.
Verdict
Dilbar is not bookable and will not be bookable on any predictable timeline. The largest yacht you can actually charter in 2026 is Flying Fox at 136m. If your brief is interior volume and not LOA, the answer is the same: Flying Fox at 11,000-plus GT is the largest commercial charter yacht by volume on the current market.
For the German press context and for charter clients passing through Hamburg, the team next door at HotelsForKings has the Hamburg list for accommodations.
Last updated
May 2026. We update this page when Dilbar's legal status, the EU and UK sanctions on Usmanov, or her physical location materially changes in the public record.
FAQ
Has Dilbar moved since the sanctions came into effect? No. Dilbar has remained at Blohm+Voss in Hamburg since March 2022. Periodic Bloomberg and Reuters reporting confirms she has not moved and there are no reports of departure preparations.
Can the yacht be sold to a non-sanctioned buyer? Not currently. The freezing order prevents the sale, charter, or transfer of the asset while the sanctions are in force. A change in the sanctions regime or a court ruling would be required.
What is the difference between a frozen asset and a confiscated asset? A freeze preserves ownership but prevents operation, sale, or transfer. A confiscation transfers ownership to the state. The German legal process around several frozen yachts has been investigating whether confiscation can be ordered, and the path is contested. As of May 2026 Dilbar remains in the frozen-asset category.
Who pays for Dilbar's maintenance at Blohm+Voss?. The mechanism for frozen yacht maintenance under EU sanctions is set by the relevant national authority and varies case by case.
How does Dilbar compare to Eclipse? Eclipse at 162.5m is longer by 6.5m. Dilbar has the larger interior volume (15,917 GT against). Both have ownership context that has affected their charter status. We cover Eclipse in Eclipse yacht charter status.